to catch a muse
by raven1101
Summary: Something is killing muses, when sam and dean go to investigate, Dean looses his, (as if his ideas arn't bad enough). Now he has to figure out where it is before it dies too.


Approximately two Years ago, Maine...

"Sam! Behind you!" Dean yelled as he stood up from the shape shifter he had just killed. Down, turn left. Sam ducked and turned left, listening to the inner whisper that was always there unconsciously, swinging the silver blade out, backhand, and with a thunk it landed in the gut of the second shifter. Sam yanked the blade out and slammed it home into the shifter's heart before it could react. "got it!" Sam yelled back, wiping the blade on the shifter's pants leg and standing up, heading down the dark hallway of the mausoleum towards Dean.

Dean turned with ease as Sam walked up to him and they continued down to the end, where the witch was chanting something evil. They never faltered, never broke stride, moving as one as they kicked the double door down when they got there. Duck, jump sideways. Both boys ducked and jumped to the side just as the witch threw a fire ball at them and continued chanting, her voice rising in volume and cadence. "Fire balls?! when did she start throwing fire balls?!" Dean yelled looking at Sam with wide eyes. Sam grinned and shrugged. I bet the silver knife Garth gave you would fly perfect. Dean grabbed the knife, a gift from Garth last time they met up around Christmas time last year, out of his boot and threw it as he jumped across the doorway to where Sam was.

The knife hit dead on in the witches throat and she let out an rage filled gurgle. Duck and cover. The boys looked at each other and Sam whispered, "wasn't that a volatile spell?" Dean's eyes got big and they leaped up and dove for cover behind two huge statues on the other wall just as the room exploded, throwing concrete and other un nameable stuff all over.

The boys waited for a few before they peaked out from behind the statues, looking around. They cautiously crawled out and looked over the destruction. "good plan, Dean. Sound reasoning. Just walk up and tell the witch we know who you are and what your doing." Sam said as they eyed the mess. "I didn't see you coming up with any brilliant ideas" Dean said with a snort.

Sam just shook his head and scooped up the cursed object they had originally come after gingerly with a piece of cement and into the box. As they walked away, getting out of dodge, as dean put it, they missed the shadow detaching itself from the wall of the remaining pieces of the mausoleum.

Now...

"So have you got us a case Sammy? Or you just reading the funnies?" Dean strolled in to the kitchen over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. Sam looked up from the obits and made a face at him. "still wearing the dead guy robe I see" He said. "what? They don't need it. And I washed it." Dean said defensively. Sam just shook his head with a little smile. This was nice, he thought, finally, a day where neither one of them had to worry about the others state of health, mental or otherwise, finding a case because they had squat on the darkness, and doing what they did best.

"back to basics" Sam thought to him self with a small smile.

"well it's actually kinda dead out there" Sam said. "There's a rugaru in Florida that Keith from Omaha is taking. And a ghoul nest that a group of newer hunters has a bead on that they said, very politely I might add, that while 'we appreciate the offer from the Winchesters we can do it no problem, thank you very much' end quote" Sam said with his fingers in the air. "other than that, this thing in the obits in Oklahoma is the only thing I'm seeing." Dean looked over Sam's shoulder, sipping his coffee loudly. "dude, really? In my ear?" Sam complained. "what? Oh sorry Sammy," Dean said with an look of pure innocence on his face and his 'I got on my brothers nerves again' grin on his face.

Sam could hear the mental tally mark go down. Dean sat in the chair beside Sam and pulled the computer over to him with a smirk that he hid rather unsuccessfully behind his cup. Sam didn't complain though, he just sighed as he got up for a refill on his coffee. Maybe after a while it will get old, but having Dean back, the pranking, old Dean was still new enough for Sam to take the ribbing and the annoying behavior happily.

"So what makes you think this is our kinda thing? All I see is a bunch of artsy guys offing themselves. Weird so many, but they've all been proven suicide with out a doubt." Dean pushed the laptop away and took a sip of his coffee, but then leaned forward again and looked at the news articles again. "yet you cant seem to look away can you?" Sam asked. "something just isn't right and I cant just ignore the feeling when ever I read over that first one."

"the stories are all the same, right?" Dean asked absently as he put his coffee down to peruse the articles more. "Yup, artsy person, looses his inspiration suddenly and then after a spiral downward into depression, off's themselves. No rhyme or reason, no pattern, male, female, young, old, writer, artist, singer. There's even a cop and a business tycoon. It's like they all just quit and then they died."

well it's not like there's anything else going on, and the darkness is in the wind so to speak right now so whats the harm in looking? Dean stood up abruptly and finished his coffee in a long swallow. "well its not like we are doing anything else, and frankly we have had a dry week. Get packed baby bro, lets go on a road trip." Dean strode off and left Sam looking after him slightly bemused by the quick decision. "so like the old Dean." Sam whispered to himself with a happy sigh as he went to his room to pack.

'well that didn't take as long as I thought it would' Donavan said to her sister with a smile. 'Sam was ready to go with out me even pressing the issue' Myka said with a satisfied nod of her head. 'ill just remind him that researching on the road will keep dean from messing with him to badly while you remind dean that its probably not a good idea to distract Sam while he's in research mode' she told her sister back.

Donavan just looked over at Myka with an exasperated look on her face, one that mirrored the face Dean would give Sam when ever he pointed out the obvious. 'How long have I been Deans muse now? Let me see, since his soul was created douche, I know how to keep him from bugging your Sam' Myka just shrugged and gave Donavan a fond look. Her sister had taken up more and more of Deans human traits since she spent his time in hell with him, including his habit of name calling.

Both sisters faces became pensive as they thought about what they were sending their hunters towards. 'Do you think we will get there in time?' Donavan asked Myka quietly. Myka shook her head. 'probably not in time to save her from using another one of us in some ritual.' Myka threw her hands up in the air. 'how did we, of all people, miss that the damn witch in Maine had a apprentice? And one that actually knew how to access our reality?'

Donavan paced up and down as she watched Dean pack, reminding him to bring the new credit card and to make sure the name matched up the id. 'neither one of us can see the future sister,' She said soothingly, 'nore can we hear the thoughts of anyone other than our hunters. She kept that fact close to her chest and her muse was already too far gone or we would have been able to reach him.'

Myka just folded her arms and looked back at Donavan. 'we never did find out from the network how exactly the witch corrupted her muse, or even knew about him for that matter. Don't all creatures think muses are just a figure of speech?' Myka mentally reached out and reminded Sam gently that he had a book that he was reading on fairy creatures that Sully had given him when he visited and watched as he put the book in his bag.

'Sully was supposed to try to learn something for us last time he visited us, remember? Right after you and Sam got back from the Cage?' Donavan asked Myka. Myka shuddered as she remembered that time in her and Sam's life. 'ya, he said he'd bring it if he found anything. I think it was in that book he brought Sam, but he was kinda out of it with his charges being killed and all. You know I never did apologize to you for chewing you out for reviling yourself to Dean while he was in hell to support him' Myka said to her sister. 'I never realized until we went thru it how important it was to them to be able to see and talk to someone that couldn't be controlled or seen by what ever evil it was that had them'

Donavan just gave her sister a one arm hug as they stood and watched the brothers meet up at the impala. 'It was the only reason they lasted so long sister,' Donavan said. 'i'm just glad you were able to help Sam's soul while his body was here with Dean.' Donavan laughed softly as the brothers drove away, headed to Oklahoma. 'trying to keep an eye on the meat suit while trying to keep Dean focused on how Sam's behavior was so wrong was very hard. Now I know why the creator put the rule of one person, one muse down. That was exhausting!' Myka laughed now. 'that's why it took Dean so long to figure it out. You cant multi-task!' Donavan just pinched her sisters ribs and followed the boys, Myka not far behind.

Sam read as they headed west to Oklahoma. Some thing about this case was bothering him. It was so familiar. He took a quick breath to say that to Dean when Dean spoke up. "does this seem like a big deja vu to you?" "Yes! I was just about to say the same thing to you!" Sam exclaimed. "Shut up, you were not." Dean said with an un-easy laugh. Sam just continued on. "i just cant place it. And its bugging the hell out of me!" Dean pulled of the road to a diner. "lunch time, Sammy, i'm hungry and I want to look at dads journal." Sam got out of the car and grabbed the lap top. "grab Bobby's also Dean, there may be something there."

Dean went to the back of the car and opened the trunk. He reached in and grabbed said journals and was about to close the trunk. He grabbed his and Sam's as well. "never hurts to re read ours too, never know." He shut the trunk and with an absent minded pat, locked up the car and followed Sam into the diner.

Sam found a booth in the corner of the diner that was beside a huge window that boasted a view of the parking lot, and more importantly, baby. Sam slid into the seat that faced the wall and ordered him and Dean their drinks while he waited for Dean to catch up with the journals. He continued to pour over the articles on the web as something tickled the back of his mind.

"the latest in a series of tragic deaths was reported to-day. Mr Joanis, a local sculptor of modern artwork, hung himself last night. Mr Joanis was a beloved member of this town, with ties to the modern art society and an active member of creativity for life, a non profit organization that focused on poverty ridden children and bringing out their inner creative streak. Mr Joanis was most fond of saying, 'every one of gods creatures has a muse, we just have to learn to listen to them'. Mr Joanis will be missed. He is survived by his wife of 5 years, Angela Joanis, who also tragically lost her only brother, also an artist, to a serial killer two years ago. Mrs, Joanis's brother lived in Maine."

Dean slid into the booth with his back to the wall and smiled as he automatically looked for baby and saw her clear as day with no obstacles. He grabbed for his cup of coffee as the waitress set it down for him with a grin and a wink. She just smiled politely and asked if they would like a menu. Sam for his part was so engrossed that he didn't hear her so Dean ordered for them both. Sam didn't look up, just read the latest article to Dean as He flipped thru his own journal looking for something, he didn't quite know what yet, but he would when he found it. And he told Sam so when Sam asked why he had his journal and not Bobby's or Dads.

Serial killer of artists, two years ago. Hmmm, well lets go back two years. Dean flipped back to two years ago, right at the beginning of this journal. About a fourth of the way in. He found where he had teamed up with Crowley right before the Cain fiasco. And went further toward the front. Sam had started to tap his fingers like he did when he was seriously onto something. Angela Joanis, that sounds familiar... Sam suddenly made a grab for his journal, startling Dean who had just flipped to a date almost exactly two years ago, he looked up at Sam and asked. "got something?"

"you remember, about two years ago, before all that crap with Abaddon? Right after we lost Henry and found the bunker. We had buried Abaddon and took the key to the bunker. The first case we had after that?" Sam started to flip thru his journal with excitement/worry on his features. "OK I definitely don't like that face Sammy, its the one you get when we forget something important." Dean said. Look at your journal. Dean looked down and noticed the date and the first sentence. "we have been here less than a week and Sam already has found a case for us, like geeze man! Couldn't we just enjoy the bat cave for a bit? But no, some artisty, nerdy nicompoop has been killed and the witness said he had been running around yelling about witches. Man I hate witches, screw up EVERYTHING!"

Dean looked up at Sam at the exact time Sam looked up at Dean and said together. "The witch in Maine"

'wow! Are we getting weaker or are they getting denser?' Donavan asked as they collapsed on one of the benches beside the boys table. 'I do think that they are getting a lot denser!' Myka exclaimed rubbing her head. 'wow, remember when they were kids and they just listened to us?' Myka said with a rueful laugh. 'Maybe Sam would listen to you, Dean always had his own ideas, even before the fire.' Donavan said with a sigh. 'remember when he decided he was a big boy and was gonna take a bath by himself? Right before Sam was born? He didn't want to bother his mommy who was resting.' Myka laughed and shook her head, 'if Kayla hadn't managed to keep such a close connection to Mary after she stopped hunting, I don't think Mary would have woke up in time to keep Dean out of the scalding water before he seriously hurt himself.'

Donavan smiled, 'you know I think he actually heard me when I was telling him not to do that,' Myka looked up surprised. Donavan shrugged. 'he kept chanting; shup, im big, can do myslf. Every time I'd say not to, or to ask mommy first.' Myka just crossed her arms and watched as a muse kept his cook from burning Deans burger. 'well you were always closer to Dean than I am to Sam.' 'That's because you only look at this as a job Myka, if you would let yourself actually care for your hunter, you would be closer too.' Donavan said in a tired tone. This was an old argument. 'you just let yourself get to close, Donny, and its gonna come back to bite you in the ass.' Myka finished with her same old reply. They just let it go, an old argument that they never could agree on.

After they ate, and got back on the road. It wasn't until they crossed the Oklahoma state line that Sam spoke up. "you know I don't think we ever figured out why that witch was killing all those people did we?" he asked. "no we didn't, we were too busy ganking the bitch witch." Dean replied. "although in hind site, it may have been a good question to ask." or if she was alone "or if she was working alone." Dean slid his eyes sideways to catch Sam's Sam felt his stomach sink. "god Dean, what if we missed someone, this is all our fault!" "don't start talking like that Sam! We did the best we could. If we missed someone, we will find them and fix this k?" Sam nodded and they both with drew into their own thoughts.

They stayed at a red roof inn this time, Dean had decided he didn't want to deal with bed bugs after a quick look at the dilapidated Conite motel, front entrance and scored a corner first floor room with a kitchenette with a weekly rate after a little bit of flirting with the night manager. Plus there was a bar a block down the road on either side. As far as Dean was concerned it was almost as good as the bunker.

Almost. Since they arrived at noon, Sam went to speak with Ms Joanis, while Dean went to the mortuary. They met back up at the motel around 6 that evening. Dean carrying pizza and beer, and Sam bringing coffee and donuts from a local doughnut shop that sold huge boxes of the black ambrosia.

Over dinner they shared their findings. "So according to Ms Joanis, her husband was a very creative, artsy guy." Sam said between bites. "you should see his stuff, guy was really talented." Dean gave a grunt to say he was listening between bites of pizza and coffee. "Well he was fine until two weeks ago he got real listless, said he lost his muse. Actually she said he kept repeating it like a mantra." Dean nodded for Sam to continue, mouth full. Sam shook his head and kept talking. "Then two nights ago he killed himself. No reason. Wife just came home to him dead with a note reading. 'My muse is gone, dead and there's no getting him back. Im sorry. I love you. Good by.'" Sam took a cup of coffee and took a drink. "wife doesn't know anything else."

Dean sat back with a burp and wiped his face. Sam grimaced. "dude really? Cover your mouth." "what are you, Mrs. manners?" Dean asked. He smirked and burped again. Just to see Sam make one of his bitch faces. He'd never admit it to Sam, but being able to be in the same room as him with out wanting to tear him to shreds was something he treasured now. Never had thought about it until the damn mark.

And even though this whole Amara-the-darkness thing was worrying him, he still would just stop to enjoy just being free of anything tying him down. (so far the connection to Amara didn't count) Also being able to be around Sam and bug him, get under his skin. It was just one of those things to be treasured. Like pie. You never know what you got till its gone. Dean hummed in agreement to that thought.

"Well the coroner was right, it was suicide. But here's the funny part. This is the 12th death by suicide in this town in as many weeks. 2 artists, including our guy, 1 big town banker that just took over the towns only bank, 3 house wives, 4 college students at the local community college, and 2 teachers at the middle school and high school.

All of them suicides, all of them with letters telling loved ones they are sorry and all of them acting depressed about 2 weeks before they off themselves. The cops just cannot find a connection to the people. Some knew each other, some didn't. No one was part of any clubs, or anything. They only connection is how they died, the 2 weeks of downward fall into depression and this town." Dean took a drink of his coffee after he finished his report. And looked at Sam "I don't get it, but its really weird, and where there's weird," "its usually our kind of thing." Sam finished with a sigh. Dean nodded and went back to his coffee. Thinking about the days findings.

Sam got up and started making a board for the case. Might want to look up lunar cycles. Sam finished what he had and hacked into the police's web site, and into the files. While they waited for the reports to finish printing, he looked up the lunar cycles. There is an eclipse in a month Dean, on a Friday the 13th." he said with a grimace. "on the full moon." Dean snorted. "of course there is." a drink would be nice, and the bar down the road is more upscale. Maybe someone there has heard something. He stood up and got his jeans and a t-shirt out of the duffel bag and went into the bathroom. "i'm going to the bar down the road, the one on the left, its more of a sports bar than a biker bar and i'm gonna see if there's anyone there that can tell me anything." he called from the bathroom as he started the shower.

Sam laughed softly, not to sure his brother could pull off the sports bar thing. "you'll stick out like a sore thumb dean, you sure you want to go there?" He said as he put together the reports in some semblance of order. He heard his brother grumbling under his breath then sounds of him in the shower and laughed as he turned his attention to the papers in his hand. Sam looked up and his mouth gaped in surprise as he looked at the man that walked out of the bathroom 20 min later. "who are you and where is my brother." he asked in surprise as he looked at Dean. Dean smirked at Sam and said. "some of us have fashion sense Sammy, I cant help it if you didn't learn any, I tried to teach you, lord knows I did." he shook his head mockingly at Sam while his eyes laughed at his expression.

Sam for his part, was amazed. His brother had managed to take a pair of jeans, a button down shirt (one of his, he noted) and his fed jacket and shoes and make it look like he was some sort of day trader or something. "well, at least don't get thrown out due to hustling pool." Sam managed to say as his brother waved to him and left out the door. Shoulders shaking in laughter at Sam's reaction. Sam stared at the door for a few minutes bemused. Then returned back to his research with a shake of his head and a small laugh.

Donavan waved bye to Myka as they left for the sports bar, she was hoping some of the muses could be coaxed into talking to her. They were loaners as a species, only seen by a very few. And they tended to have their whole world taken up by their charges and their charges worlds. As they walked into the bar, Donny looked around. It was busy, mostly human, one very shy djinn sitting in the corner by herself. Donny noticed with relief that her muse was visible.

Now she had to see if he would talk. Dean noticed the djinn as well, seeing only the human persona. Donny had to tread carefully here, or they could loose real big. Muses never held the prejudices that their charges had, since they took on the species of whom ever they were assigned to. but they were always the same race as their charges. So this was technically a djinn muse. And that was reason to be careful. A muse was loyal to their charge and their charge only, and would do what they could to protect them.

The rest of the bar's occupants were busy with their own businesses and Donny turned to Dean as he ordered his whiskey. 'She's pretty, and looks lonely, I bet she would love some company.' Dean turned his head to fully look at the djinn while he considered approaching her. He reminded himself that he was here to look for a lead, not hit on a hot girl, (though she was hot) Donny replied to that with, 'who says she doesn't know anything?' True enough dean thought to himself as he straightened up and looked around to make sure she wasn't with anyone. Donny reassured him he was right, she was alone and suggested he ask the bartender for another of what ever she was drinking so he could bring it to her to break the ice.

As Dean got the barkeeps attention, Donny went over to the djinn's muse and cleared her throat. He looked up at her sharply and then at Dean who was looking their way. 'my name is Donny, my human is a hunter, we are looking into the destruction of the muses in this town, he just doesn't know what he's looking for yet, can we speak with you?' She was taking a risk, reaching across the species like this, hell getting involved was out of normal to begin with. She held her breath, (a habit from dean, since she didn't need to breath) and let it out with a whoosh as the muse in front of her nodded and whispered something in his djinn girls ear.

'I'm Akryn,' the muse said as Dean approached and the djinn girl cautiously accepted the offer Dean had brought and offered Dean a seat. 'Donny,' she replied. As Dean and the girl made small talk and flirted, the two of them spoke. 'can you tell me anything about the victims?' Donny asked. The muse looked around cautiously and spoke quietly and slowly. 'ya, ill tell you what I can.' He took a deep breath and continued. 'They were all great thinkers, creative even for us.' He took a moment and looked at Donny, fear in his eyes. 'I knew the one with the banker, they were rougaru. His charge had come here to save the bank, he was known in his peer group as a creative, great mind in the banking world, on top of the world you know?'

Akryn swallowed and looked down at his hands. His tattoos moving along his arms in agitation. ' his muse was so proud of him, they had managed to keep the monster at bay, had not killed and the monster had gone into hibernation. They never really go back to being human, no matter what they think.' he hitched a thumb at Dean. 'the others were the same, all of them were out side the box idea people.' Akryn leaned forward. 'there was one of them that got away, that's why there is only 12 so far, Barely survived the thing and now rumor has it she and her charge are holed away at the mental hospital just outside of town.

Cops put her charge there after she kept saying that a witch tried to 'steal and eat her muse.' Akryn shuddered. 'they're not supposed to see us Donny! How are they even finding us?' 'I don't know Akryn,' She replied gravely, shaken by what she'd learned. 'but that there, that's Dean Winchester, if anyone can find out, its him and Sam.' Akryn's eyes turned wide as he looked at Dean laughing with his djinn girl. He looked back at Donavan and nodded and whispered in his djinn's ear. The djinn girl stopped and looked at Dean and smiled warmly. "i like you," she said. "that's why i really need to go now, i'm sorry." Dean looked at her with a confused smile and she patted his hand, took the last drink out of her glass and thanked Dean. Then she left, leaving Dean staring after her in mild confusion.

Everything had been going so well. Then the girl said she liked him and had to leave. Dean thought about going after her. Actually got up and made to follow her. But I am here to work after all, just the fates reminding me of that I guess. Then he snorted at himself as he returned back to the bar where the bar keep just smiled and poured him another shot. He spent the night making small talk until he was invited to a poker game. That's where he learned about the banker and the girl that had been put in the mental institution on the hill after being found in the rain on the side of the road saying she had been kidnapped by a witch that had tried to 'steal her muse and eat it'. He returned to the motel room that night about 1 am, 800 dollars richer, and stone cold sober.

"Muses?" Sam asked the next morning when Dean woke him up at the butt crack of dawn to go look at where the girl had been found. Sam scrubbed his eyes with his knuckles as he woke up. He took a drink of the coffee dean had brought him and looked at Dean like he'd grown another head. "and why are you not hung over, usually you don't get up till like 10 after a late night. "didn't get drunk Sammy," Dean said grumbling. Just get up and lets go, I got this feeling that this will pan out." Sam went and brushed his teeth, and let his mind go blank. His best thoughts came as he did his morning routine with an open mind. "well if imaginary friends exist, I don't see why muses cant" he said after he came out of the bathroom. "every artist in the world claims to have one after all." Dean just nodded as Sam walked around getting dressed. He looked at the board and the papers Sam had organized. There was a pattern there. If he could just...

"Sam!" he said excitedly, "look! OK like you said, the artists have the muses right?" Sam nodded seeing Dean had something. "but look, the banker was sent here to pull the towns only bank back from the brink of bankruptcy." He took a moment to laugh at the irony there. "but the others, there were 2 artists if you count the local painter/tattoo artist, the 4 college kids were at college for creative thinking and video game design, the house wives all had their own home businesses that were doing well and both teachers were loved by the parents because they worked with special ed children, making learning fun! They were all creative thinkers!"

"So maybe muses aren't just for artists?" Sam asked. "and what ever is taking them is eating them?" his voice rose a few octaves and Dean made a face at the thought. "could it be Amara?" Sam asked? "I don't think so Sam, she eats souls not muses." Dean replied "and anyway, this is like the one 2 years ago right? Except the artists were being killed instead of killing themselves. She was still locked up back then, hell I didn't even have the mark yet." "So the witch was trying to use blood magic to get to the muses? And when we stopped her, the other one took over?"

Sam googled lunar eclipses from 2 years ago on a whim and looked at Dean. "What? Sammy you got that face again that I don't like" Dean said un-easily. "there was a lunar eclipses on that day remember?" "ya I remember Sam," Dean said. "It was also on Friday the 13th." Sam said softly. Dean looked at his journal and winced. "13 victims"

"So there's one more to go because the one girl got away right? So we have time, the eclipse is like a month away," Sam started. "to do what Sam? Find all the creative people out there and tell them something is eating their muses and if they feel depressed and want to kill themselves, its too late?" Dean asked acidly. Sam just shrugged and slumped his shoulders. "i guess we go visit the survivor at the asylum then." He said.  
-

'well that was easier than I expected.' Myka said approvingly. Donny smiled and nodded. 'hopefully we will learn something from the poor girl at the hospital.' Donny said as she guided Dean to where he'd left his keys. 'you know they can do somethings for themselves.' Myka said with a resigned sigh. 'I like helping him, Myka besides it would take so much longer if I stood back and let him search. And this is our lives at stake too.' Myka just sighed again and followed Sam to the car. Donny made sure Dean turned off the lights and put the no service needed sign on the door before she followed him out to the car.

When the boys got to the place where the girl had been found by the passerby, it was remarkably, unremarkable. Just a stretch of 2 lane road, with mountain on one side and drop off on the other just like many roads in eastern Oklahoma. Dean pulled over onto the side of the road where she was found and they locked up the car and carefully picked their way down the side of the mountain. After searching for several hours they met back at the car at 3 like they planned. "didn't see anything but wildlife, you." Dean asked Sam.

"Nothing." Sam replied. "not a damn thing, not even a trace of cloth or anything to even suggest she had gone thru the woods here. Based on the description by the driver who picked her up, she was wearing ratty, torn clothes, there should have been something here." provided no one cleaned it up, or this is even the right place. "provided no one's been here to clean up after themselves or that the driver even gave the right mile marker." Sam voiced after a bit. Dean nodded thoughtfully as they got back into the car and drove on to the asylum.

'damn! I was hoping for something we could see at least!' Donavan swore. Myka just looked out the window as they rode along in the back seat, sitting behind their hunters. The mountain and forest kept rolling past as they neared the asylum. 'maybe the girls muse can tell us, Donny, if she's able to even manifest after what ever.' Donavan looked at Myka and said, 'this is the last hope, Myka You know that right? Another one of us will die if we fail our hunters and our kind.' Myka looked over to Donavan with tears in her eyes and nodded. 'I know' was all she said.

They got to the asylum and walked in to the reception window. "Dr's Stone and Temple here to see Dr Randolph." Dean said to the receptionist. "Stone and Temple Dean? Really?" Sam whispered to his brother. "Well I had us an appointment with Dr pilot when I made the appointments but he got sick and we have to deal with his partner now, so the jokes on us I guess," Dean said with a perfectly straight face as he looked at Sam.

Sam growled at him, actually growled and stalked off following the receptionist who had come after them. After he got his back to Dean, he broke out in a grin, making sure Dean didn't see it. God he had missed Deans stupid rock references when he made the id's. Dean grinned at Sam's back and made a mark in the air as he sauntered off after them. Both of the boys muses had their head in their hands laughing. "was that your idea or Deans?" Myka asked as she floated after the group. "all Deans this time dear sister." Donny said affectionately. "you know I like classical music." Myka just laughed and followed the boys.

The girl was sitting at the window watching the birds in her room when the Dr showed them to her. Dean and Sam came into the room and the Dr introduced them to the girls back. "Sara, these gentle men are Dr's Stone and Dr Temple. They are from Cambridge University and would like to speak with you about your experiences." Sara turned around and looked at Dean, then her eyes shifted over to his Right. Dean looked over and all he saw was the dresser.

Then Sara's eyes unfocused and focused back on Dean and Sam. "OK, but only if you leave us alone." "Now Sara you know," the Dr began. "Its OK, Dr. we will be happy to sign any wavers or something, we are fine i'm sure. Sara's not been known to be violent has she?" Sam interrupted the Dr to ask. "well no, not at all actually...well OK if your sure, see Mary at reception when your done, OK?" the Dr said. The boys nodded and Sam shook the Dr's hand and shut the door behind him. Then the boys took chairs and sat on the other side of Sara's table.

As Donavan and Myka floated in with the boys, the first thing they noticed was Sara's muse, sitting on the bed, rocking back and forth with her knees to her chest. 'Hi,' Donny said gently. 'our charges are hunters, we are trying to figure out who is killing our kind so we can stop them.' Myka asked 'will you help us?' the muse looked over to them, and then back to Sara who was watching the exchange. Donny did a double take as the Dr. began the introductions. 'can she see us?' she asked incredulously. 'yes' the muse whispered.

Donny and Myka looked at each other, surprise evident on both muses faces. 'how?' they asked together. 'it was the witch' Sara's muse said. Sara's muse looked at both of them, and seemed to come to a decision. Than she spoke to Sara. 'these two are hunters dear heart, they will help us if we help them. Maybe they can return me to my former existence, or help end my pain.' Myka and Donavan started at the wording. 'you are in pain?' Donny asked. 'But we don't feel our own pain, just our charges, and only sometimes.' Myka said. The muse nodded, a s-s-side effect of the spell,' she stuttered. And then she fell silent, agony apparent on her face as she rocked. Sara looked at Donavan appraisingly and then back to Dean. "OK, but only if you leave us alone." she said to the Dr.

Sara looked at Sam and Dean quietly for a moment and then got up and sat on the bed. "hunters huh?" she said to them. Sam just stared open mouthed for a second. Dean shook his head and opened his mouth. "i don't," he began. Honesty may be the best policy here. "How did you know?" he asked curiously instead of the denial that was automatic. "my muse told me." she replied.

"your muse told you?" Sam asked "you can hear it?" "and see her," she said, stressing the her. "have been able to ever since the witch tried to yank her away from me." She looked at the bed beside her, then back at the boys, who had followed her gaze to the empty (to them) bed beside her. "look, i'm fine now, I've recovered. Problem is my muse has not, something about the spell to bring her out in the open, into our reality, has caused a great deal of pain for her, is still causing pain. She describes it as quote 'a Klingon pain stick on, all the time' end quote." Dean winced in sympathy at the imagery. Sam asked "if she's in our reality, how come we can't see her?"

Sara smiled sadly. "The last thing she told me before the spell started was an idea how to escape, than she was ripped away, very painful for both of us by the way, and when I finally was able to move thru the pain, and escape, I interrupted the witches spell, she had Aaron, my muse, strung up some how and was sucking the essence right out of her, damn it hurt like a bitch!" Sara shifted, rubbing her chest as she remembered. "like fire and ice and electricity all at the same time, right here in my middle."

like when Cas touched my soul in the bunker to make sure it was still there. Sam sat straight up at her description, his face a picture of shock. "what dude?" Dean asked. "that is the best description I have ever heard of what it felt like when Cas touched my soul." Sam said. "Ya! Exactly!" Sara exclaimed. "it was like something was, like, I don't know, unraveling my soul! Thank you Aaron, Myka." Sara said to the empty bed. "who's Myka?" Dean asked. "do you have more than one muse?"

Sara actually looked embarrassed. 'Might as well tell them I suppose, it couldn't hurt.' Donavan said to Myka and Sara. Myka looked at Donavan like she was crazy. 'the whole point of being a muse is that they don't know the ideas come from us, knowing our names, especially these two would make them question every idea and that could leave them open to injury during a fight.' Myka crossed her arms and stomped her foot. 'or,,, it could help them solve this problem.' Aaron gasped out. 'no!' Myka said firmly 'tell them yes you have more than one.' she told Sara. 'no.. tell them the truth. Lies only begat more lies Myka, you know this! Especially with these two! Plus when its all done they won't remember anyway!' Donavan said heatedly.

'it could help, please Myka?' Aaron asked. 'It hasn't hurt our relationship at all! Sara still ignores most of my advice anyway.' Aaron said dryly. Sara had the grace to flush. 'Fine! Myka groused, over ruled. But if Sam starts triple guessing him self more than usual, I am blaming both of you and I am not talking to you ever again!' she pointed at Donny, both knowing she didn't mean it and Donny flushed happily. Now Dean and Sam would know about her. And that thought made her very happy for some reason..

"Sara? Earth to Sara, is Aaron saying something to you?" Dean said to the flushing girl, now staring in between the two of them. Dean looked at Sam who shrugged and looked back at Sara. Dean snapped his fingers in front of the girl who jumped and looked at them sheepishly. "no, actually Myka's your muse Sam." Sara said, looking at Sam.

A sort of shock ran thru Sam at her words, "my muse?" he repeated dumbly. Sara nodded and Dean barked out a laugh. "dude, always knew you were geeky, now you are one of the 'creative' people." Then he frowned. "damn, that means we are gonna have to be twice as careful. Cant have you losing your muse, then I'd have to do all the research." Donavan choked on a laugh as Myka scowled.

"actually," Sara said, hiding a grin behind her hand. Dean and Sam both looked at her. "Dean, you have one too, her name is Donavan" Dean frowned. "i have a muse? Wait, my muse is a chick?" Sam looked at Dean with something between exasperation and amusement. "So me having a female muse doesn't even phase you, but you having a female muse does?" Sam asked. "Shut up Samantha, we all know that deep down your such a girl anyway." Dean retorted back.

"everybody has a muse." Sara explained to the dumb founded boys. "at least from what Aaron can tell me when she's coherent." Sara said. "wait, so if everyone has a muse, how come the witch is choosing these particular people?" Sam asked. "the pattern still stands Sam," Dean said. "All the people chosen were really creative. Like artists, right?" Dean looked at Sara. "i'm a singer and I write my own songs." She said. "So why are you still here then?" Dean asked. "You Said you were fine." "Because I was still kidnapped, and I gave a description to the Dr. so they think i'm still crazy and i'm kinda protected here. Plus Aaron showed me some runes that kinda protect me." She showed some crazy looking celtic runes to the boys under her rugs by the windows and door.

Sam and Dean left after a little while longer and got the description from the Dr. On the way back to the inn, Dean asked. "so is that where all our ideas come from then?" Sam looked at him, "lost me big brother." He said. "if we all have muses, does that mean all of our ideas are really theirs?" Sam shrugged, I guess so." Dean was quiet for a few miles then said. "man some of our ideas have been spectacularly horrible." The boys spent the rest of the ride in silence.

'trust Dean to blame all the bad ideas they had on us' Myka snorted. 'like we had any say in the really bad ones' Myka was sitting behind Sam, honest- to- god disgruntled about Deans comment. 'we were the voices of reason for those boys!' she complained. 'I was the one yelling at him that Ruby was evil, she had an ulterior motive. I was the one that said there had to be another way than to say yes to Lucifer dammit!' all those bad ideas were theirs and Dean has the gall to blame us.' Myka turned her head and sulked at the rain outside the car. 'relax sister,' Donavan said soothingly. 'they don't know the true nature of the muse, or how we work. Give them time. You reminded Sam to bring the book Sully gave him right?'

Myka nodded. 'well we are in there, and the other book is at the bunker safe and sound. Let them have time to research us. In the mean time, we have to be careful. You and I both know we are different then your typical muse and our connection to the boys is deeper. If we were to get captured, it would be detrimental to them. I think this time, we have to be more proactive.'

'it goes against the rules, Donny.' Myka groused. 'ya well, so does a witch eating muses now doesn't it.' Donavan said firmly. 'I want you to promise me Myka, you will show Sam the book in the bunker if something happens to me.' Myka made a negative noise and turned away from Donavan more. 'you must! Myka promise me! Its not for ever and the sigils will keep you from ending up like Aaron. You have to be able to talk to him! I am going to do the same if the roles are reversed, you can bet your astral ass on that!'

Myka just turned back to Donavan and glared. 'you just want an excuse to be corporal so you can touch your beloved Dean again. I told you touching Dean in hell was bad news, you got infected with human!' Donavan just shrugged and laughed it off. 'you know you sound luney right? You're just jealous because you didn' t have the guts to touch Sam while in the cage, So don't start preaching to me.' Donavan just huffed at Myka.

'I stayed aloof Donavan, I kept myself strictly business and gave him hope,' 'and maybe that's why he went insane and the angel and poor Nyasta had to take on that burden. While Dean kept his wits intact!' Donavan hissed, finally irritated with Myka's attitude. 'you know as well as I did it was the loss of a friendly touch, of comfort that finally pushed Sam over the edge in Lucifer's cage and he would have lasted twice as long if you had stepped down from your pedestal and just touched the man! A hug goes a long way with humans Myka! Even Death told you that when he came after Sam's soul!'

Donavan crossed her own arms and looked out the window. 'you know it killed me to see Dean tortured in hell, not able to do anything. I cried every night knowing that all Dean had to do was accept Alistair's offer and the angels would send some one to rescue him. He was so strong for so long before I finally revealed myself to him after that first decade.' Donavan then looked over to Myka 'you know that was the only reason I was able to keep him from killing more than he did when he became a demon last year, I had already had experience getting thru to him from that last decade in hell.'  
Myka was quiet for a while as they listened to the boys bicker back and forth about dinner, agitated due to the fight in the back seat that they couldn't quite perceive. 'it killed me too when it was Sam.' was all she said.

Sam and Dean finally decided on dinner and made a plan to visit the library the next day to see if they could find anything on how to make a muse corporal. Which dissolved into a discussion as to whether it was really their idea or did the muses want to speak to them. Dean finally decided it didn't matter. And announced that his ideas were all his, muses be damned and that was it. Donavan just looked at Myka proudly when he announced it to Sam. Who rolled his eyes in tandem with Myka. Which caused Donavan to giggle and the tension dissipated between both brothers and sisters.

It was Dean that came across the book in Sam's duffle the next morning while he was looking to steal some clean underwear. "hay Sammy, whats this? You didn't have enough of the fairy folk when they stole me last time?" he yelled into the bath room. Sam poked his head out with a tooth brush in his mouth. Dean held up the book, eyebrows raised. Sam ducked back in the bathroom to finish his teeth an came out saying. "Sully gave it to me before he left. Said I might like to read about his kind." Sam shrugged. "you know me, always like to learn about new things. Plus, Sully gave it to me." Sam grinned. Dean just shook his head. Still not sure how he felt about the fact that his baby brother needed an imaginary friend because he couldn't be there. But the guy had done Sam a solid so..

"why don't you read it while i'm at the library? Or better yet? Go to the laundry mat and wash the clothes and read it. It's your turn anyway." Sam said to Dean as he got a shirt on. Dean made a face and thought it over. Eh, laundromat or library, hmm I guess library is more boring on the boring scale. Not to look like he was a push over he made a fist and put it in his palm. Sam looked and rolled his eyes and did the same. And on 3 Sam thru paper and Dean thru rock, just like always, Dean grumbled good naturedly about it and gathered up the clothes while Sam grabbed his laptop and other equipment with a grin.

Dean sat on the bench after starting the loads and looked at the book in his hands. An encyclopedia guide to faerie folk and all their sub- species. Dean snorted at the memory of him yelling at soulless baby brother to fight those faeries and his fight with tinker bell as he opened the book and looked at the chapter listing in the front. "hmm, OK leprechauns, banshee, brownies, Clurichaun. Wow I didn't know changeling's were part of the faerie folk! OK M for muses..m, mere-people, nymph. Nothing here, well crap!"

Dean slammed the book shut and squeezed his eyes shut. "OK, talking to my muse here, I could use an idea, i'm all out of them, shit how does this even work?" Dean opened one eye and looked around. Nothing. He swore again. Donavan giggled a little at that and touched his shoulder. 'read the title again' Dean stared at the books front, how does one tap into his inner muse? He wondered as he re-read the title. Wait, an encyclopedia guide to faerie folk and all their sub species? He opened up the book and flipped the page, faerie sub species and off shoots..page 104. "well lets see 104,104, aha! Muses!"

Dean read the page and half way down he found what he was looking for... ::while the muse is technically considered to be faye, it is, in reality, its own off shoot species. Not much is known about these faye, except that every living creature has one, monster, demon, human, angel. It doesn't matter. A muse is typically assigned a charge at the time when the charge is beginning to take an interest in the world around it. And while every creature has one, the only information known is on the human muse as they are the most, social, shall we say.

Muses can only be seen by other muses. As far as is known this applies across the species. The muse is the same as the charge. i.e. a human cannot have a demonic muse. However it is interesting to note that if a human is turned into say, a vampire for example, the muse remains the same. The only time a muse is reassigned is when the charge is sent to its final resting place. Be that heaven, hell or purgatory.

A muse works by first by bringing the child's attention to everything, giving the child ideas, then around 3 years of age, the child begins to come up with ideas of their own and the muse begins to back away and either encourage or discourage the child's ideas. The muses sole purpose is to help the charge. As the child grows the muse then simply will remind the charge of things, perhaps whisper logic or counter points in the charges ear. Rumor is that they become what humans term as the 'gut feeling.' They are also in a similar category as imaginary friends::

Dean shut the book with a snap as he absorbs what he just read. "so when I feel something in my gut about a case, that's my muse?" Dean gets up and finishes the laundry as he thinks this thru.  
Donavan sits back and watches Dean fondly, 'maybe Myka's right' 'Maybe I got too close to him' She knows she shouldn't be feeling the affection that she does when she watches him. Muses are supposed to be objective. 'muses are typically assigned to their charges though' she thinks as she reminds him to put the fabric softener in Sam's clothes and to make sure that the red flannels don't go in with the whites. 'as far as I know Myka and I are the only ones ever that are made out of their charges souls'

Sam found nothing at the library. Well nothing he could use. The best he found was a small dictionary that had this incerpt :: (Muse) (In Greek and Roman Mythology) each of nine goddesses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who preside over the arts and sciences.:: to be fair, it was a tiny, one room library. Sam googled Greek mythology but couldn't find anything that matched what Sara had said. After a while he gave up and texted Dean.

::did you find anything useful? Nothing but civilian Greek mythology on this end.::

Dean;  
::yup, your friend Sully came thru this book had a little bit in it.::

Sam;  
::OK, Chinese OK for dinner?::

Dean;  
::your muse must be reading my muses mind :P::

Sam just shook his head trusting he'd get an explanation and headed for the local Chinese take out.  
Myka just sighed.

-  
It was two weeks before they had a break in the case, and it was pure luck that it happened. They were at the bar up the road from the inn they were staying at when Sam saw her, the lady that matched the description that Sara gave the Dr. "Dean! Look, that woman over there, she a perfect match for the witch Sara described." Sam said as Dean came back from the men's room. Dean looked over as he slid into the booth they had. Sure enough there she was, dressed to impress, short black hair in a pixie cut, and tattoo's down her back that the shirt did nothing to cover up.

Only a hunter would know what they were or meant. "Wow." Dean said. "brazen hussy isn't she." Donavan and Myka hid themselves as they looked at her. 'do you think her muse can see us?' Myka said as she slid behind Donavan and peaked around her. 'I don't know, i've never seen a witch with that kind of power. I wonder if maybe the muse is controlling the witch?' Both muses gasped as the witch looked over at the boys and smiled seductively. And then looked at them and the smile grew bigger. 'ya, I think she can see us little sister.' Donavan said with a tremor in her voice. "But where is her muse?"

The boys both looked at each other then back at the witch. She smiled seductively at them and Dean automatically smiled back. The woman's smile grew wider. Sam kicked Dean under the table and hissed. "quit flirting with the witch douche bag!" Dean got up to follow her and Sam grabbed his arm, "it could be a trap Dean," he hissed. "She made us, i'm sure of it!" Dean just shrugged out of Sam's grip and followed anyway. Sam sighed and threw some money on the table as he followed after Dean, who was heading out the back door. The door to the bar shut with a loud bang after them and Dean said "crap"

Sam looked back and realized the back door was one with no handle on it and the only thing out here was a trash can and a field that went on for miles. It was dark and moonless due to cloud cover that night. And as the boys advanced toward a sound in the shadow's, guns drawn, Dean felt a pull in his gut and knew this was a trap. "man my muse is telling me this is a trap dude, lets get to ba-" he ended his sentence with a gurgle as he was thrown against the building, feet dangling about 3 feet from the ground. "aw shit, Sammy!" Dean thought as he tried to pull his gun hand back up to aim at the witch who came out of nowhere. "Dean!" Sam yelled as he lifted his gun and fired 5 shots in rapid succession at the witch. None of them hit and the witch just laughed.

Sam tried to charge the witch but found he couldn't move a muscle. He struggled against the invisible bonds as the witch just smirked at him. Then she began to chant something in a language Sam vaguely recognized. Sam's gut dropped, this was very bad.

Dean screamed in pain all of a sudden and Sam's attention was drawn to Dean. His face was in agony and a glow was emanating from his chest and stomach. Sam screamed at the witch, some thing about what he was going to do to her if she hurt him, he couldn't really tell you after it was over what he said exactly.

The wind kicked up and Dean felt like someone was taking his insides out and freezing them and burning them, it was real close to the pain he had felt in hell after Alistair had grown tired of Dean telling him off. But at the same time it was worse than anything he had ever felt. He was also in so much emotional pain! Worse than when Sammy died, worse than that! He felt his voice fail and only then realized he had been screaming. The wind had picked up and was whipping around them with hurricane force and then it was deathly quiet. And when Dean opened his eyes, she was there, everything faded away to her, she was his whole world. Blond hair, blue eyes full of sorrow and pain. She was beautiful. And he remembered her just for a second, before it was gone.

She had been with him in hell, a voice of comfort when there had been none, encouragement when he was ready to give in and a soft, gentle touch when Alistair had been done brutalizing him. He had never known her name, only her gentle touch and kind voice. She had been the one to get him to trust Cas when he came to get him out, to not fight Cas to hard when he used his grace to purify the demonic side that had started.

She had been the one that promised to be by his side no matter what, even when he finally couldn't take it anymore, when he told Alistair yes, she never looked disappointed, never judgmental, she had only shown him support and love. Then the world came back with a vengeance, the pain was back and she was ripped away into an amulet the witch held. The witch dropped Dean and he fell with a thud, pain shooting up his leg as he landed wrong on his ankle, but it didn't matter, because the debilitating pain in his chest had a matching hole in his heart that filled with a sadness and despair so strong that it overwhelmed him, and he couldn't for the life of him remember anything except that he had lost her, and he passed out.

Sam fought with everything he had. He knew in his heart that Dean and his muse were in trouble. He battled for every step against the witches hold and he got close, so frustratingly close he could almost touch her. Then the howling wind stopped for a second and a woman came into sharp focus. She was standing in front of Dean, with her hand on his face and the other on his heart. She was tall for a woman, almost as tall as Dean, had he been on the ground, blond hair to her waist, big blue eyes the color of the ocean, muscular and strong, confidant in how she held herself. "Beautiful." Was all Sam could think. She looked into Deans eyes until the wind and the howling started again and she was ripped backwards into an amulet the witch held. The witch cackled and dropped Dean, who landed with a thud and at that moment, her hold on Sam was gone. Sam lunged at her, only to see her dissipate and she was gone. He landed and rolled moving already to Deans side.

Donavan knew that this was it, her time was up. She said goodbye to Dean the best she could, tried to convey her love to him. And then more pain, then darkness. Myka screamed as she felt the sister/muse bond stretch and felt Donavan's pain. She had to concentrate! 'Bend low, below the wind! Be ready to jump when she releases you! Dean is in trouble! His muse is in trouble!' Myka chanted beside Sam's ear, touching his shoulder for the first time since he had grown and Sully had shown up. Then she finished her spell. That witch finally let Sam go and he lunged. But she was gone. And using a muses transport! Myka gasped, dumbfounded, as Sam ran over to Dean. She stared at the spot that the witch had been and her mind went blank for the first time in her existence. Only a muse can do that! No one can learn, No one can steal it. This witch wasn't the partner of the witch in Maine, it was her muse!...

Sam reached Deans form, heart hammering in his chest. "please be alive, please be alive," he chanted to himself, he couldn't lose Dean, not again, not now. He placed his fingers on the carotid pulse in his neck and actually wept in relief to feel it, weak but steady. He stayed there a moment longer, just feeling the pulse, brain empty of everything but relief. Finally he shook himself out of it and picked Dean up and placed him in the back seat. Then he headed to the inn to get the rest of the stuff. Before he headed back to the bunker. They had spent 2 weeks here with nothing and then on an off night that was supposed to be for relaxation, They were hit by a teleporting witch. They had just over 2 weeks left till the full moon and they needed help and it wasn't here. Sam called Cas at the bunker and updated him while he drove thru the night and reached the bunker by mid day. Dean was still out in the back seat. Cas met him outside and helped bring Dean inside and put him in his bed.

"You go sleep Sam, your exhausted, ill keep watch on him." Cas said firmly. Sam started to rebel when a yawn split his head in two. your tired as hell and there's 2 weeks before the eclipse, Sleep, you need it. We'll deal with this in the morning. Sam whipped around looking for the origin of the voice in his head. Cas looked at him like he was loosing his mind. "did you hear that?" Sam asked "hear what Sam, no one but me and Dean are here with you, and Dean is a bit on the sleeping side." Cas had checked Dean out already apparently, Sam mused. Sleep Sam This time Sam was sure he heard it. A female's voice and an accompanying tug at his gut. His muse? Sam wondered idly as he headed to his room and crashed on the bed, as he was, and fell asleep before he could finish that thought.

Sam woke up, and stretched. The world started to comeback to him. He was in his room, at the bunker...Crap! Dean! Sam got up and ran to Deans room only to find it empty. Holding down panic, with all the stories about the suicides of the other 12 victims racing thru his head he ran to the common room and skidded to a halt. There, at the table was a very depressed looking Dean and Cas. The moment Dean saw him though, his shields went back up and his face went very blank. "Morning princess, sleep in your clothes again?" Dean asked casually as he sipped his coffee.

He turned his head to Cas and said. "some day all I need is a pair of scissors after a good drunk." Sam brushed his hair back with his hands and grumbled "shut up, I thought you.." his voice trailed off, unwilling to even voice the thought "thought what, I'd off myself? Really with Cas here? Sam go shower, do your morning thing I'll be here when your done." Dean said softly. Sam looked at Dean suspiciously. "promise little brother." Dean said looking straight into Sam's eyes. Sam nodded after a bit and went to do his morning routine.

Myka followed Sam into the bedroom as he got his stuff ready for the shower. She felt a little numb, off, kinda. She understood now, more why the brothers were so off their games when they were apart. She needed to keep her promise to Donavan first. She left Sam to his morning routine and went to find the angels muse.

Nyasta was waiting for her in the common room. He was watching Dean tell Cas about what it felt like to lose a muse. Myka waited patiently with Nyasta as they watched the angel and human interact. 'Donavan's human is holding up well considering,' He said to Myka. He looked at her with a smile. 'your humans are a good influence on my angel'

Myka forced herself to smile. 'Donavan made me promise to show Sam, The Book, if something happened to her. Said she'd do the same if roles were reversed.' Nyasta nodded slowly. 'it makes sense, considering what we have learned, what you have told me.' Myka looked at him and sighed. 'This makes the difference I think, that one of us has turned on the others. This was what we prided ourselves on after all, the ability to stay distant to the rest of the world. Even the reapers cannot touch us, only god himself.' Myka let out a bitter laugh. 'Hell, Nyasta, even the darkness cannot see us. We should be unknown to all, distant to the wars, and yet one of us was touched by it.'

Nyasta looked off into the nothingness, 'we must find out how she was able to become almost human, how she didn't die after being brought to the humans realm. She has managed to find a balance by consuming the muses she steals. But I don't think she is stable, not totally. She has to do some ritual and its in that book.' He looked at Myka. 'you know where it is?'

Myka nodded. 'Donavan found it while snooping with Dean one day. Dean didn't see the room of course, Donavan peaked thru the wall. There is sigils and runes all over it that I don't know, and the book is in the middle on a stand, surrounded by protection sigils Only a legacy can touch it.' Myka looked down at her crossed arms and then back at Dean and Cas. 'id love to know the story behind the legacy that found out about us and wrote it.' She turned back toward the doorway headed back to find Sam. 'me too, My dear muse, me to.' Nyasta said to her parting back.

Dean was hurting. It was like someone had taken an ice cube and a hot coal and buried it in his chest where his heart had been. Why did it hurt so much to lose something you never knew you had? He had been trying all morning to come up with a plan and yah, he started out great. Then it puttered out about half way. He couldn't finish any of them. Cas just looked at him with sympathy and he was too depressed to even get annoyed by that. He was worthless, despondent and yah, he knew Cas and Sam were always around because they were afraid he'd kill himself. Well he wasn't that far gone yet! They just needed to find that bitch witch and get his muse back! And that's where he puttered out. He had no idea how to even start.

Sam came back in the main library with a cup of coffee in his hand. "we should look for any lore the men of letters have on muses." he said. Then he stopped and looked up. "i'm open to ideas!" he projected to the ceiling. "dude, what the hell?" Dean asked. "you asking the roof for help, or your muse?" Sam looked at Dean with a mixture of exasperation and sympathy in his eyes. And shook his head. Cas just nodded and began to look thru the books. Dean got up and took another shelf. "you OK?" Sam asked. Dean looked at him with thinly hidden irritation. "i still know how to read, I just cant finish my own ideas."

Dean took a book down and pointedly ignored him. "Sam sighed and patted him on the back as he walked to the reading room off of the nook that held the huge telescope. Dean had found it by accident and told Sam. He loved the leather smell of the old cigar room he turned into a reading nook. Sam ducked under the telescope and down the stairs with his computer. He sat the laptop down on the table and turned to look at the bookshelf. Get the stool and look on the top of the book shelf.

Sam whirled around and looked behind him before he realized he had felt the familiar tug in his stomach. He stopped and waited a few before making the decision. He took the foot stool and put it in front of the shelf and still had to stand on his tip toes to see. He looked around and saw dust and dust bunnies and.. that small circle in the middle is colored differently.

Sam looked at where the voice told him to and sure enough, he'd of missed it if he hadn't been looking for it. He ran a finger over it, cleaning the 2 inches of dust off of it. Then pushed down. Nothing happened for a second or two, then a grinding sound as the shelf began to move to the Left. "Dean! Cas!" Sam yelled as he lept back to the floor and watched the book shelf move to reveal yet another hidden room. Dean came in with Cas a moment behind just as the shelf stopped moving to reveal a room covered in runes and sigils, and some writing Sam recognized as Latin. In the middle was a pedestal with a small leather bound book on it. And along the back was a chest with a crystal bowl with a clear liquid in it, on the middle surrounded by herbs and powders.

"Cool Sam." Dean said with out any of his usual excitement. Sam and Dean walked carefully into the room and then ducked when they heard a snap of electricity behind them. They turned around to see Cas with his hair standing up at all angles, more than usual. "it would seem that only legacies can enter this room." Cas said blandly. Dean actually laughed.

Sam moved to the center of the room and reached out cautiously to touch the book. Page 18 the voice said. Sam flipped to page 18 and read it out loud: There is a way to make a muse corporal, why you would want to is beyond the author at this point. But there it is. Normally a muse can only be corporal for 4-6 hours before it withers and dies. Sam looked at Dean worriedly. Deans eyes welled up with un- shed tears which he angrily wiped away muttering something about having dust in his eyes.

But there is a way to keep one here indefinitely. It must be completed though, whether you are bringing one into this plane or returning it to its own. If not, something dire will happen, but this authors muse would not tell him. Apparently it is the worst case scenario for a muse. What ever it is, this authors muse was scared to death of it. So for those that need this for what ever reason, here it is.

The author listed ingredients, and a chant. With directions on how to mix the ingredients. It was simple, as far as spells go. As Sam mixed them with a drop of his blood to bring out his muse specifically. And then one of the amulets from the 6 that were on the shelf was added to the bowl. Sam finished the chant and hit the bowl with the match. It went up in Flames and smoke went everywhere. Sam felt a pull deep in his chest and he looked up. As the smoke cleared, a young woman was standing in front of Sam, in the circle of runes on the floor. She came up to his chin. She had dark brown hair to her shoulders, fair skin that was dotted with freckles and blue eyes the same as Deans muse. They glowed faintly, reminding Sam of Cas's eyes when he used his powers. Sam felt the fondness coming from her and then he was hit with all the memories.

She had been with him in Lucifer's cage, she had been there when he was being tortured. She had been the one telling him, Dean would never forget him, Dean would find a way, just hold on a little longer. She had been his encouragement when Lucifer had finished with him for the time being and turned on Michael. She was the only reason he had held out so long. "hello Sam." She said softly as she held her hand out for the amulet. He handed it to her automatically, brain on idle as he stared.

Myka put the amulet over her head and looked around. "wow." Dean said softly, " your beautiful." Myka gave Dean a thin smile and looked back at Sam, who shook himself out of his daze. She gave her arms a brisk rub and said to them, "We have got work to do gentlemen." She walked past them all and out of the room. Then looked back at the three of them, "Are you coming?" She asked? Then she headed to the main library. The guys looked at each other and then followed her.

Once back at the library, Sam cleared his throat. "Um, its good to meet you." he said lamely and then winced at how he sounded. Myka smiled and patted his shoulder, "Its good to be able to converse with you again Sam." she said. "we have 2 weeks left until the 13th, lets get my sister back, what do you say?" Dean and Sam nodded and Cas spoke up. "we are at a loss it would seem, we don't know where the witch might be, and really we don't even know where to look." "not to mention, i'm useless with out my muse," Dean said forlornly.

"what happened to, ' my ideas are my own Sam!'" Myka asked quietly looking at Dean. "we have gotten to the point guys, where you come up with your own ideas now, have for years actually, we pretty much point out the counter points and details that you miss sometimes." She paced around to the other side of the table, dragging her hand along the wood, marveling at the coolness of it. They never really could feel what they touched while in muse mode. Kinda like when a humans hand or feet fell asleep, they knew it was there, just had no feeling of it.

"Actually, we more or less just tell you where you left your keys and what not to wear and stuff now a days." Not actually true, but she could tell that the boys needed the boost in self esteem right now. Nyasta nodded approvingly at her, it was then that she realized with a start that she could still see him.

Dean almost physically shook himself out of his funk by pure will and said briskly, "well alright then, tell us what you know beautiful." "Dude! Stop hitting on my muse!" Sam said with a scowl shaking himself out of his stupor as well. Myka just smiled and chuckled a little at that. Dean had the grace to flush and they sat down at the long table and listened as Myka told them what they had found out.

"So this isn't a witch?" Dean asked in amazement. "its the witches own muse?" "That's how we missed it Dean," Myka said sadly, "we didn't look for a muse, we made sure there were no more dangers to you. And we didn't consider her. Usually when a creature dies, the muse is re assigned." Myka leaned back in her chair and sighed. "It didn't even occur to us that the muse had been corrupted."

Cas spoke up then, surprising everyone who were lost in their own thoughts. "are we sure the muse was actually corrupted? Or did something happen that affected the muse and then caused this behavior?" Myka looked at Nyasta in surprise, and found him looking down at his angel in surprise as well, their eyes met over Cas's head and Nyasta shrugged, mystified. "that's all his idea sister," he said. Myka then looked back at Cas as Sam asked, "what do you mean Cas?'

Cas moved from the wall he had been leaning on and sat down at the table, putting the book from the room on it. He had it open to a page in the middle. "this chapter was in a very ancient dialog of Atlantian. I would assume the author couldn't read it so he just taped it to his journal pages." Cas cleared hummed softly as he turned back 2 pages and began to read the cramped handwriting.

His Majesty's court recorder: Bi-annual week of royal audience, Day of the Sun, mid morning: The alchemist apprentice, Jazaynis, has come forward to present his project to prove his mastery over alchemy to his Majesty in hopes of being ordained a full alchemist by the king and the head alchemist. He is expected to pass with ease as the headmaster stated in his recommendation letter that this senior apprentice shows much promise. His project is that he claims to be able to bring the kings own muse into being.  
Since the King is fascinated by all things alchemy, he has agreed to listen. The summoning went well... in the beginning, after the spell was cast a small period of time passed and a man stood before the court. He appeared out of no where. The King introduced himself to the muse and then, before the muse could answer, something went wrong. The muse became agitated and there was a flash of bright blue light that exploded in a wave and went out from the muse to cover the entire court. Not a full second later, it returned and collided with the poor muse who was now very much in pain, as was the King it appeared. The muse attacked the King and killed the apprentice in a rage. It was all very sudden and then the muse dissipated. The king was fine for a time. Dazed but signaled he was OK The court was canceled after that..  
Day of the moon, Mid spring: The king is dead, we are at war and Atlantis is no more.

There as quiet as the words sunk in. "it would seem then that a spell to bring out the muse will effectively cause madness in the muse when done incorrectly." Cas said into the quiet. "and it happened with in a day" Myka said."

Sam sighed softly as he looked at his stricken brother and said, "well we will have to make sure that doesn't happen." Sam, Cas and Dean all looked at Myka with varying degrees of concern. "We did a different spell gentlemen," Myka said with a small smile/grimace. "as long as I wear this amulet, I will be fine. But I have to be inside the runes when I take it off."

The next day every one met in the kitchen, Myka had spent the night talking to Cas and by extension, Nyasta. They had gone over all of Cas's considerable memory and none of them could come up with anything else about muses. Or why Myka's spell to become "slightly human" as Dean affectionately put it, still flirting just a little, worked when the other spell didn't. As the humans ate breakfast, Cas was reading the book from the hidden room.

Myka had a plate in front of her and nibbled on some fruit salad, enjoying the taste of the fruit. She had never even considered this part of being corporal. A part of her felt guilty for enjoying something while Donny was being tortured or what ever was going on with her.

Dean kept looking at her as he ate, a thoughtful look on his face. Finally he put the fork down and asked, "Myka, can I ask you about your other assignments? Did you have anything like this from them?" Myka looked up. "What other assignments Dean?" She asked. "Well, you said that once a person, creature, whatever dies, the muse gets reassigned, right?" Dean asked. Myka's face cleared as she understood the question. "Oh! We didn't have any other assignments Dean, You two are our 'one and onlys', when you die, we die." Sam looked up sharply at that as Dean asked. "why? I mean, that seems like a waste of talent to me." Sam looked over at Dean with a surprised look than smirked. He knew that tone.

Myka did to it appeared and she laughed softly, "Flattery is useless with me Dean, i'm a muse, Sam's muse. Not human remember? And once we have saved your muse, we will go back to being invisible gut feelings again. Plus you won't remember us." Dean actually looked real disappointed at that and Sam had to chuckle.

"Its a good question though," He pointed out "What about our relationships are different, if muses get reassigned when the person, creature dies, why don't you guys? I mean you followed us to hell, we both remember you guys now. I get if your newly created, but to die when we do? That doesn't seem right?" Dean nodded emphatically at Sam's words. Myka sighed and put down her grape. "we weren't assigned to you guys." She wiped her hands on a napkin. Dean and Sam looked intently at her, waiting for the answer.

She made the decision to tell them everything then. After all, they wouldn't remember it when this was done. And without Donovan, she was just as lost as the boys when they lost each other. "we were made out of a piece of your souls when you were born. We were born with you." She said. "God saw fit to make it that way for some reason. We weren't told why and we never asked. It did have the unfortunate side effect of causing us to feel more for you than a normal muse would. We both care about you two." She said looking down at her hands.

She sighed again and laughed softly, finally admitting to herself what she couldn't to her sister. "We love you guys, we are as much a part of you as your own soul." She looked up and met Sam's eyes and then Deans. "We love each other as well, we are sisters. Something no other muse has, even twin children's muses are each their own person, not related at all." She slid her chair back and took her plate to the sink. "The longer Donovan's away, the weaker I'll get. If I loose her.." She looked back at them and saw the understanding in both their eyes.

"then we better get to work. Lets go find me my muse." Dean said abruptly. He got up and went to leave. "Dean, your plate.." Myka said with a small sigh and a smile. "Oh ya." Dean get his plate and put it in the sink. And headed out to get his stuff packed. Sam finished his breakfast, Lost in his own thoughts. Dean came back in and asked Sam, "hay dude, you seen my keys?" Sam rolled his eyes and said. "no dude, you had them last, remember?" Dean shook his head and headed back to his room.

Myka watched him and said to Sam. "you need to watch out for him, Sam. With out Donavan, hes gonna forget everything." Sam looked up from his research and finished his OJ. "So she's more than his muse huh, shes his memory too?" Myka looked back at the table as he took his plate and fork to the sink. "we both are." she said as she pointed to his glass, still on the table,

"once you began to come up with your own ideas, we offered them less and less and simply would remind you of things, tell you when to duck, or the best time to strike a blow in the midst of a fight, occasionally we would be that idea or 'something that's bugging you about this case' things like that." Sam looked at the glass and shook his head, moving it to the sink and rinsing it out. "So your like our instincts now huh?" he asked with a smile. "more or less," Myka said with a wink. "our favorite times are when you spar. Its like a work out for us as well, plus we get to see who's the fastest to respond or warn you."

Sam laughed. "i guess Donny's the better at that." He said ruefully, admitting to his muse what he would never admit to Dean. "cuz I still can't beat Dean in a sparring match." Myka's eyes twinkled. "are you sure we're not just letting them win?" she asked as she walked out of the kitchen with him. He looked down at his muse and began to laugh in earnest.

It had been a week since the revelation on what had caused the muse in Atlantis to go mad, (and the realization that the fall of the great city had been because of a crazy muse.) and every one was on edge. They had found out where they thought the muse might be hiding, but had little else in the way of how to stop or, if they had to, kill the muse. Myka didn't know how to kill a muse, when asked by Sam she huffed a little and said the subject had never come up. Dean was getting worse by the day. He was tired, all the time, sore and in general looked like hell.

Sam was reminded of when he was doing the trials and would look in the mirror occasionally. He mentioned it to Cas one day while Dean was asleep on the couch after breaking out in a cold sweat and got so weak that he collapsed, nearly braining himself on the corner of the table. Cas couldn't heal Dean, he'd told Sam. It was like healing a black hole, the more energy he put into healing Dean, the more it took and it was like something was sucking it out of him. "My bet is that she's draining Donovan and since she's attached to Deans soul, she's draining him." Nyasta told Myka who went to her room and cried.

It was Monday before the eclipse when it happened, and it took Myka totally by surprise. Sam had taken Cas and gone for lunch and left Myka to watch over Dean. Myka only agreed after Nyasta promised to take care of both of them. "I am an angel muse, Myka." He said with much amusement after her 10th attempt to come with them. " I can multi-task." Cas had asked about his muse only once. And Myka had assured him that, yes, he had one, and no, he wasn't disappointed in his angel. Cas seemed to perk up a little after that and Nyasta told her later that he had begun talking to him. "Its a one sided conversation, more or less, but strangely, I kinda enjoy it." he had confided in Myka.

Dean was in the library, curled up on the couch with the book that Sully had given Sam. Trying to make heads or tails of anything. He was also staring at the board they had made tracking this case. He was kinda disgusted with not being able to come up with a complete plan but, Surprisingly, he had taken the loss of his muse fairly OK He was still majorly depressed and in physical pain all the time now. But he never gave up. Donovan would be proud. Myka thought. She sat beside him on the couch and handed him the cup of coffee he had wanted but was to weak to go get, and too independent to ask for still. He smiled at her and thanked her for it as he sipped from the cup. They sat in quiet companionship for a while while he read.

He put the coffee down all of a sudden and turned to her and asked. "Why us?" "you'll have to be more specific Dean." Myka said with a small laugh. "Why were we chosen?" Dean asked. "Why did God, or fate or whatever decide that we, Sam and me, the Winchester brothers were supposed to get the special muses, save the world and all that. Why?" Myka shrugged. "I don't know Dean, God doesn't really explain his decisions. We were born knowing what was expected of you. So that we would be prepared when the choices were made. But we, our whole world was, is, you guys. We didn't really pay attention to the rest until we started dying.

"I mean, we talked to other muses occasionally. We would rib each other when the occasion presented itself. But muses are by nature loners. We had each other and you guys, that was all that mattered. But I do know that when your souls were made, they were given one job.

You guys had to stop the Apocalypse. Only you two could do it. You are the last true descendants of Cain and Able, you know. That's why you guys were chosen, and also why Cain was able to give you the mark, incidentally, just so you know." Myka added as an aside, answering a question that had been festering in Dean for a while.

"God knew the choices the angels would make once he gave them free will, part of the whole 'seeing all' aspect of his personality. So he set up back up plans. And you two are his biggest one." She shrugged and wrapped the throw around herself from the back of the couch. She hated the cold and was wearing some of Dean's sweats. Even then, she still felt the chill, Nyasta told her it was because of her psudo-human existence right now and it would fix itself once she was back to normal. Dean looked at her for a while and then all of a sudden, with a quickness that surprised her. He leaned forward and kissed her.

She squeaked in surprise. Went ridged at first. But Dean didn't pull away. He kissed her again, licked the bottom of her lips and nipped at her upper lip. She gasped in surprise and he took advantage of it and licked inside her mouth. To her absolute surprise, Myka found herself kissing back. She lost herself in the sensations of his tongue sliding over hers, she had never felt this before and was completely lost in the feelings it brought. She copied his movements out of reflex and he deepened the kiss. How long they stayed like that she would never know.

But when he stopped and looked down at her, she realized she was on her back on the couch and he was laying beside her. "I know my muse is out there somewhere, I know we will find her. But right now, I just want to keep kissing you because I just don't think I can stop." He said softly. Myka knew that he was serious. She could feel it. Thru the thin bond she had set up while Donny was gone. And truth be told, she didn't want him to stop. She realized then, that she had broken her cardinal rule and actually grown to love this human, more than the usual affection she held for the brothers. Donny's gonna love this one. She thought to herself as He dipped down slowly, giving her time to say no. when she didn't, he claimed her lips again and she lost all track of time after that...

Sam was surprisingly OK with this new development between Dean and Myka. He was so OK that Dean asked him suspiciously what he was planning. "nothing, why? Can't I just be happy that your happy?" he replied and left the room quickly, taking full advantage of the fact that Dean couldn't really catch him right now.

Sam hurried to his room and shut the door, leaning his head on its cool surface for a while as he took a few deep breaths, calming down his suddenly fast heart beat. He took out the sketch pad he had and flipped through it, stopping at the one he drew of Deans muse. It had only been a brief moment but he had been lost the second he saw her. He sighed and threw it down on the bed. I am so screwed. He thought.

Cas came in and shouted at the boys who were sitting at the table with Myka making a plan to get into the ware house that they thought the rouge muse had holed up in. "I have news from heaven!" he called out as he trotted down the stairs. "Heaven? Really Cas? are you trying to get smited?" Dean asked in exasperation. "Thank you!" Nyasta said with a huff. Following Cas down the stairs.

Myka hid a smile and laughed to her self. "I take it back Myka. These boys are awful influences on my angel." he said disgusted. Cas waved off Deans concern. "I had Ash help me navigate heaven and went to see Joshua. He has always been neutral and I loved to talk to that angel, I miss him sometimes." Cas sat down at the table and leaned forward. "we were right about where Donovan is. And the muse is using the essence of the ones she kills to stay in the mortal realm like we thought. But here is something Joshua told me that we couldn't figure out. What made the muse go rouge in the first place."

Sam closed the top of the lap top with a huff. "so tell us what you got Cas." He said. "because we are all outta ideas." "It was actually an old summoning spell for a familiar that the witch got off of the supernatural black market. And by old I mean it was written in Atlantian." The room got quiet as they all let the implication of that sink in.

"So she got a hold of the spell that the apprentice alchemist used?" Sam asked quietly. "well yes and no. that's where it got tricky." Cas said. "The witch thought she knew what it was. She wanted an old powerful familiar that would help her take over hell. She was originally going to kill Crowley and take his spot." Sam and Dean snorted at the idea together. "Crowley would love to hear that plan." Dean said with a huff of laughter.

At this point Cas pulled out an old scroll. "This was from the witches stuff that you two put in your dads old storage space with the amulet/cursed object that she was using remember?" "I remember," Sam said. "I tried for weeks to translate it, I gave up and we just put it in the storage with the cursed object in the box."

"Right," Cas continued. "so its actually written in code, by an alchemist that just happens to be Merlin's teacher." "Merlin, like King Arthur's Merlin?" Dean asked. "the very same." Cas said. "So I went to Merlin's heaven and had him translate it for me." "Merlin is in heaven?" Sam asked incredulously. "Of course" Cas said so matter of factually that Dean actually laughed. "Of course he is, why wouldn't he be." Dean said with a good dose of sarcasm. "what's it say Cas?" Myka asked quietly.

"Its not really a summoning spell. It's a spell to make a muse that's already corporal, human." Cas said, looking at Myka. "So when the apprentice found it, he only was able to translate a small portion of it and then made up the rest. He didn't know what it really was." "So basically this alchemist student was trying to cheat on his final." Dean said. "exactly," Cas replied with a frown. "and it backfired horribly and destroyed one of the greatest city's in history, relegating it to myth and legend. The witch did the same thing with her spell but the difference was she was able to translate it a little more and knew it was for a muse. So she tweaked it again and as a result,"

Sam finished the sentence with fear and resignation in his voice. "As a result, we have a rouge muse gone insane that had to become a cannibal to survive." Myka gasped as they all realized that Donovan was currently in the process of being eaten alive. "So that's why I can't heal Dean, because of the bond between Donovan and Dean, she's not only consuming Donovan's essence, but thru her, Deans soul." Cas finished quietly.

"Cas, once a muse is pulled to this plane improperly, with out this amulet to protect her, she will age and die with in a month! Its already been almost 2 weeks." Myka said, grief and desperation in her voice. Dean's hands trembled where he sat with Myka. "How do we kill a Muse Cas?" Dean asked as he took a deep breath, anger warring with depression and fatigue in his voice. Sam looked over at Dean, with a concerned expression on his face. "I don't know Dean." Cas said, the pain evident in his voice. "I do." Nyasta said as he materialized, holding one of the amulets in his hand. He paused to place it around his neck.

Cas looked up in shock as he saw his muse for the first time. Nyasta looked over at Myka. "we make her completely human, than kill her like any other human." Myka stood up and walked over to hug Nyasta. "welcome to the group brother." she said as the other three stared bemusedly at the two. "Castiel, its an honor to be able to converse with you." Nyasta said grimly as he bowed his head toward Cas. "He reminds me of old Castiel, straight out of heaven when I first met him." Sam whispered to Dean with a small laugh. "I've never seen Cas this speechless." Dean whispered back with a laugh.

Cas for his part stood at attention and nodded stiffly at his muse. "Shall we go and get the ingredients that we need?" Nyasta asked Cas who snapped out of his daze and agreed. "we will be back Dean, Sam." He said as he left the bunker.

Donovan gasped in pain, but otherwise curled up in the corner of her cage as the Muse licked her lips finishing off her meal of essence from Deans muse. She idly wondered how Myka was doing, if she was able to handle being both boys muses. She hoped so. She doubted that Myka had shown herself though. She had no doubt Myka was looking for her, but she was a rule follower. Rules were there for a reason. Case in point.

She had heard all about the Muses origin story when the Muse realized she was getting not only Donny's essence, but Deans soul thru her. She had fought, oh how she had fought. But this muse had magic that Donny had never seen. And with the power of the soul flowing thru her now. She was damn near unstoppable. Donny screamed in agony as the Muse caused pain to shoot thru her with a twist of her mind, just for spite. She now had so much more respect and admiration for Dean and Sam during their times in hell.

She always was impressed with Dean. He had stood up to Alistair for 30 years, and the other demons for so very long, But Sam. Sam had been tortured with out care or design for a century or more. And Myka had kept her appraised of how strong he was...How he had compartmentalized his personality into three to keep his sanity intact somewhat. She would never ever admit to Myka that she had fallen in love with her charge. She loved Dean with all her being. And Dean was her world, her first priority always. But it was the love of an older sister at best. Maybe a mother, though she wouldn't presume to take Mary's place.

But Sam. He was another story. Once, when she needed Myka to convince Sam's meat suite to go get Deans help, they had switched places for a brief time. She had never shown herself to Sam but she whispered soothing words in his ears while she was there She had realized then that she loved him. And it was His courage in the face of Lucifer's torture that she used to draw on. Never give up, Never surrender. Always Keep Fighting... She spoke those words to him every day that she was down there with him.

She let the blackness overwhelm her senses once again. She was dying and she only wished she could see her guys one more time. And her sister.

Dean managed to pull himself together out of shear will. His muse needed him, he needed her. So there was no other option. They headed out with the spells they needed to make The Muse human. Nyasta took Myka to one side and said. "I will not be joining you on this last step." Myka nodded, "I understand." She said. She grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. "Thank you Nyasta for all your help." he nodded to her. "I will make sure their new muses are as dedicated as you two were." Myka smiled sadly at him and hugged him. Knowing this would be the last time they saw each other. She wiped the tears from her eyes as Dean came up to her. "are you OK?" he asked. Myka nodded and gave Dean a hug and a kiss.

She looked him in the eyes and said. "I love you Dean. I shouldn't, but I do. Please remember this always." She turned away and went to join Cas and Sam as they scouted out the building that they had found. Leaving Dean looking mystified. Something was off with her and it had to do with this mission. But damn if he could figure it out! It was frustrating because he knew once he had Donny back it would come to him and then it may be too late. He sighed in frustration and joined the planning party.

When night came, They split up, Dean and Cas and Sam and Myka. The warehouse was empty and dark and they searched the whole building until they met at the last end. "its always the last place you look isn't it?" Sam asked rhetorically. Dean and Cas drew the wards on the doors and then gave Sam and Myka the go ahead. Sam opened the door and threw the bottle with the nasty stuff Myka made inside. When he asked what it was, she grinned and simply said "you really don't want to know". So he let it be. It exploded as it hit the ground and there was a shriek of rage from behind the door.

Dean and Cas ran in and ducked to the sides as Sam and Myka came in both throwing more of the green goo in the bottles. When the smoke cleared the four peaked out from behind the crates they had hid behind and finally got a good look at the scene. The muse had an alter set up with a cage in the middle and in that cage was Donny.

She was older, warn to just skin and bones and passed out on the bottom of the cage. Sam still thought she looked beautiful. The Muse, was twitching on the floor chanting something and Cas gave a yell and ran to her only to get thrown across the room and land with a crash. Dean made a grab at her from where he had snuck around but it was too late. Three figures detached themselves from the shadows and attacked.

The fight was intense, the shadow people were indestructible and the weapons went right thru them. Dean was just concentrating on fighting to stay alive. Myka shouted at Sam to duck and roll to the left and get the Muse to kill the Shadows. He found himself obeying her orders with out a second thought and looked up to see he had landed right at the Muses feet. She backhanded him and he fell back, head spinning due to its contact with the concrete floor.

Myka screamed His name and he looked up and rolled to the right just in time to avoid getting skewered by a pretty fancy looking athame. He gave a desperate lunge up with his knife and felt it hit. He vaguely was aware that Myka was yelling at Dean as well, warning him of things and giving directions. The Muse shrieked in pain and rage and Sam twisted the knife and shoved with all his strength. The Muse shuddered and froze. Then fell with a wet thump to the ground, barely missing Sam. The shadow men dissipated with a quiet hiss. Causing Dean to over compensate and fall on his ass.

Dean got up and ran over to the cage and yanked on the lock for a few moments before he remembered his lock-picks and started working on the cage door. He got it open and ran inside to Donny's side without thinking of anything except her health. So he was startled enough to jump at the sound of the door slamming shut behind him and the lock re engaging. "Dean!" Sam yelled as he got up. "im OK Sammy," Dean yelled back. It was then that he realized that something was keeping his voice from carrying thru the bars like they should.

Something was muffling his brother's sounds, Sam realized as he looked around the room in a quick sweep and then called out to Cas who responded from the corner with an affirmative noise. He was busy putting the crystals and runes in place for the spell.

After making sure Dean was alright, he drew the circle around the alter with the symbols required for the spell and drug the hissing and spitting Muse into the circle. "your paralyzed muse-witch," Sam told her mildly while he finished setting up the spell. "you won't be able to move until your human and then we're gonna kill you so I suggest you get comfy." The Muse-witch continued to struggle against the bonds and yell and curse Sam but he ignored her and went to get Dean out of the cell.

Dean sat with Donny's head in his lap murmuring to her, trying to get her to wake up. He was stuck until Sam re picked the lock that he had forgotten about in his haste to get to her, so he may as well try to talk to her. Donny felt Dean before she became fully conscious. His strength making her heal faster. Even without her guidance, he seemed to know that physical contact would help her more than anything. She struggled for consciousness and looked up to see Deans face full of the kind of worry that he normally only held for his brother.

She smiled and weakly raised a hand to touch his face. "I'll be OK beloved," She whispered, it will only take a little while before I am back to normal now that we are together." Deans face was an almost comical mixture of worry and relief and pain as he began to remember the details of his time in hell with her again due to the physical contact. His memories had told him, yes, she had been there, but now that they were together again, his memories were re arranging themselves with her role added in them.

"i really didn't realize how much of a comfort and source of strength you were for me down stairs." he murmured for her ears only. "Thank you, so much." She smiled and shook her head as she found the strength to sit up and face him. "the strength was all your's Dean," She replied fondly. "I just reminded you where inside you it was." She chuckled weakly and said. "you were stubborn as hell from the day we were born." Which made Dean grin a huge mischievous grin partly out of relief as he watched her de-age and heal and just pure smugness that was all him.

They both looked up as Sam came to the door, with a huge mischievous grin on his face aimed at Dean. "I seem to remember a story of you trying to rescue a sheriff from cannibals and getting caught in a cage De'" he said, laughter in his voice, " you should try to avoid cage rescues I think, one day I may not be able to get you out of them." "Shuddup jerk," Dean grumbled good naturedly. Sam picked the lock and the two crawled out, Sam laughing at Dean the whole time. When Donavan stood up and looked at Sam with a smile and said "thank you Sam." The laughter died and he just stared. She was healing and getting progressively younger looking, but to Sam the whole world just faded away as he stared at the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

Donavan's smile faded as she stared up at Sam. He was so handsome, and those dimples were just gorgeous. She flushed and looked down at her bare feet, suddenly, for the first time in her life, she felt the emotion shyness. Dean looked at the blank look Sam gave Donavan worriedly, and looked back at Donny, who was looking at the ground, her face and neck red. "Sam, Sam! Hay!" Dean snapped his fingers and was surprised when Sam jumped and..and blushed?

Than it was like the proverbial light bulb went off in Deans head as he looked back and forth. With a loud whoop that startled both of them he pointed at Sam. "So that's why you were fine when you caught me kissing your muse! You've got the hots for mine!" Dean slapped Sam on the back when he flushed a deeper scarlet. Then put an arm around Donny's shoulders and helped her over where Myka was waiting patiently with a smile, whispering in her ear the whole time and then grinning evilly back over his shoulder at Sam.

The reunion between the two sisters would put any reunion between Sam and Dean. (and there were a few) to shame. They hugged tightly and cried quietly in each others shoulders while Sam and Dean finished the rest of the ritual together. Dean making not so subtle digs at Sam about Donny and then Sam getting over his embarrassment and giving back as good as he got. It wasn't until the last part was ready that Dean looked up and frowned. "where's Cas?" Sam looked around. "he said he had one more part to get that was time sensitive before we got here. I guess he went to get it."

"well he better hurry up, I don't like having a rouge muse trussed up like this still alive and still gunning for us." Dean said grouchily. "you don't realize what your doing!" The muse shreaked at them, coherent for the first time since they started this. "you don't realize what this will do to your muses too!"then she started laughing hysterically.

"We know that it will make them invisible again. And that we won't remember them. So you can just stow the whole bad guy last conversation thing, we've done it before a dozen times and it won't stop what we are going to do." Dean said angrily. "oh! She didn't tell you did she?" "tell us what?" Sam said in a tired voice. Dean shot him a dirty look. "what? We need to kill time till Cas gets back." Sam said in defense. Dean rolled his eyes.

"It's not going to return them to their former selves you stupid humans, its going to make them human and kill them too! Kill me and you! Kill them forever!" The muse-witch laughed maniacally again.

The brothers looked at the now guilty looking muses off to the side of the room. "i thought that it would keep her from talking," Myka hissed at Donny who just looked at her and shook her head. She walked over to Dean and looked him in the eyes. "its a necessary evil Dean, you will be assigned other muses and you won't remember us at all, this is the only way to fix this. Nyasta will insure that you all burn the last of the spells so this doesn't happen again." Both Dean and Sam had tears in their eyes, shaking their heads in denial.

Sam shook his head some more, tears streaming down his face as Myka touched Sam's shoulder. "have strength, Sam. Always keep fighting. You will be fine." The girls switched brothers and Myka kissed Dean, trying to convey her love and devotion to him. You will win." She leaned back and said with a smile. "the other, Fake-Sam in the universe that Belthazar sent you to, has a rather corny saying but it holds true non the less. You will win because your the Winchesters, not the loose-chesters." Both Sam and Dean groaned in pain at the pun. But took the point.

Cas chose that moment to arrive with company. "Hello boys." they heard behind them. The boys whirled around to see Crowley with Cas. "what the hell Cas!" Dean exclaimed. Cas replied "They have a certain ingredient to add to the spell." Sam looked around blankly, "they? There's only you and Crowley." The girls both spoke up about that time. "hello Sister." The boys looked at them and then looked at Crowley understanding on their faces as a Beautiful woman with black eyes that matched her hair and nails and lipstick, materialized in front of them with an amulate on as well.

"Well, Well! Who knew my muse was such a beauty! We could do wonders together my love!" Crowley said with what he obviously thought was a sexy look. The muse scoffed at him. "can it Crowley, I, unlike my fellow muses here, am not capable of love. Nor do I feel anything for you except as a job. When you are gone, and you will eventually be destroyed, I will be reassigned."

Dean and Sam laughed at her response. "you should see your face, Crowley." Dean crowed. "ungrateful prat." Crowley muttered as his muse threw a small bag into the bowl on the alter. "you may say the spell now. Good day. Crowley, let us go."

"Wait!" Sam yelled. The muse turned back around with a look of boredom on her face. "why are you helping us?" "because that waste of a muse is eating us. Self preservation, nothing more." Crowley threw Sam a snide look. As if to say, "well duh moose." At that she removed the amulet and dissipated. "welp, don't argue with a good idea, I say." With that Crowley was gone. "yup, she's Crowley's alright." Dean said.

"Don't let her fool you chosen," Donny said with a small laugh. "she's just got somewhat of a hold over from her old charge before her. She was an angel." Sam and Dean gave them looks of astonishment. "you mean they go across species?" "yup." said Myka. "Hannable Lecters had a Demon before him." Myka made a face. "i think sometimes orders get crossed." Sam and Dean said together. "ya think?" Then they got down to business.

In the end there was a lot of noise, wind and a great light show as they chanted together, each of the Brothers holding on to the muse they loved for the last time. The blue/white light gathered around the muse-witch and then exploded outward, then into the muse-witch again. There was a second of pure peace, like the eye of a storm then the muse-witch exploded in a bright white/gold light and a shriek of anger. The last blast was huge, and it knocked everyone down with it. Overcome by the pain in their heads, the Brothers passed out.

Ears ringing, the boys slowly woke up on the ground. With their muses held in their arms. Reality rushed in and they were both overcome with grief. Dean was the first to figure out that Donny was still breathing.

One month later:

Donny flushed the toilet as she got out of the shower, lost in thought. The last week had been very interesting. They had had to learn what it was to be completely human. Including all the time consuming little things like using the bathroom, remembering to eat. Forgetting that they can't walk thru walls. ( Dean had found that one particularly funny and strangely endearing.)

Most difficult, for Donny at least, was learning to listen to her own muse. They knew they had one, theoretically. They just learned a new perspective on the job. It was frustrating not being able to piece things together like she used to. Sam and Dean took to their new muses like fish to water. Who ever they were. They were good.

Oh they still had their ability to come to conclusions faster than the boys. And, oddly enough, they had their strength and speed as well. Plus they could still see the occasional muse. Mostly Nyasta, but occasionally another would peak out of their realm and give them an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Nyasta for his part would keep them abreast of the latest news. Cas still spoke to him and they had a great system going to communicate back and forth. And Myka was shaping up to be a great researcher. She wasn't to shabby a hunter either. (Well neither of them really had that much of an issue. They had been doing it for years thru Sam and Dean.)

Now that they were a family, they did everything together. They had some new ideas about the darkness problem and Sam was sure that Myka's connection to Dean would help with the whole 'connected to the darkness so can't hurt it' problem Dean had.

As if he had heard her thinking about him, Sam slipped thru the bathroom door and came up behind her, wrapping his strong arms around her. She leaned back into his arms with a sigh. She turned around in his arms, letting go of the towel and kissed him.

"mmm, with a reception like that, maybe I should leave and come back in again." Sam teased. She just hummed back and kissed him again. This aspect of the mortal experience was definitely one of her favorites. "Dean and Myka are headed to town for dinner and a movie, apparently, Myka must have all of the star wars movies memorized and Dean found an old drive in movie theater that runs only classics outside of the city." Sam said with some amusement in his voice, after they broke the kiss. "Cas is off looking for more information on Amara, So what would you like to do tonight?"

Donavan smiled to herself as she took his hand and led him to their bedroom. "im sure we can come up with some kind of idea." She said


End file.
